Calderon's No. 2 killed in Mexico plane crash

Alexandra Olson, Associated Press

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, November 6, 2008

Photo: Ronaldo Schemidt, AFP/Getty Images

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Members of the Mexican police inspect on November 5, 2008 the site where an aircraft carrying Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mouri�o and Security advisor Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos crashed last night in Mexico City. The toll of people killed from the crash in which Mouri�o and Vasconselos died, rose to 13, the city's prosecutor said Wednesday. AFP PHOTO/Ronaldo SCHEMIDT (Photo credit should read Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images) less

Members of the Mexican police inspect on November 5, 2008 the site where an aircraft carrying Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mouri�o and Security advisor Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos crashed last night in ... more

Photo: Ronaldo Schemidt, AFP/Getty Images

Calderon's No. 2 killed in Mexico plane crash

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A conversation between pilots and the control tower gave no hint that anything was wrong moments before a plane carrying Mexico's second-most-powerful official suddenly dived into rush-hour traffic here.

The death of Interior Secretary Juan Camilo Mourino on Tuesday was a serious setback for Mexico's U.S.-backed fight against drug smuggling. He was President Felipe Calderon's most trusted confidant as the government pursues a hard-line strategy that has brought down top drug kingpins but has fueled brutal violence in Mexico.

Authorities said Wednesday that the crash, which killed 14 people in all, was mostly likely an accident. But they brought in U.S. and British investigators to help them rule out the possibility of an attack.

But the lack of evidence didn't stop Mexicans from blaming drug cartels, which have killed several top officials in recent months. That speculation contributed to a 1.3 percent drop of Mexico's peso Wednesday, according to Meg Browne, senior currency strategist with Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. in New York.

Officials played a recording of the final conversation between the control tower and the flight crew of the government Learjet 45, which was on an approach to Mexico City's airport. They calmly discussed radio frequencies and speed until the tape went silent, just as radar lost the plane's altitude reading.

Mexico City Attorney General Miguel Angel Mancera said all nine people aboard the plane and five on the ground were killed when the government jet slammed into a major avenue in the posh Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood, igniting a fireball that lit up the evening sky. Dozens of cars caught fire and at least 40 people were injured, including a Frenchman and a Venezuelan.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff called Mourino a "a good friend and close counterpart" and lamented the loss of "a courageous and strong partner in the fight against dangerous criminal groups."

Also killed was former anti-drug prosecutor Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, who had been the target of at least one assassination attempt. Drug cartels have increasingly been targeting Mexican security officials, and the Sinaloa cartel is suspected in the death of the acting Mexican federal police chief in May.

"There are just so many coincidences, the fact that there were so many important people on the plane. It seems like it could have been an attack," said Oscar Villaruel, a 30-year-old architect who was staring at a newspaper's images of the fiery crash as he got his shoes shined.

Officials tried to dampen any doubts.

"There are no indications that would support any hypothesis other than that this was an accident," said Transportation Secretary Luis Tellez, though he added: "We will investigate until all possibilities have been exhausted."

Tellez said the plane was under constant security before taking off from San Luis Potosi, where the officials had attended an event, and there were no indications that the 10-year-old craft had exploded or caught fire in flight.

He said the crash could have been caused by a mechanical failure, and investigators were analyzing the black box to confirm that.